Sticky Boy & His Watermelonby
aimeethetooComment by Artyste: Hello, and greetings from the Critique Club. What follows is my best attempt to Critique this photo from a DPC voter's point of view. I'll do my best, but please excuse any comments that may be unintentionally rude or insulting.
Initial Thoughts
Cute, but a little flat.
Composition/Content
Compositionally, this is pretty good, although I think a tighter crop would have helped quite a bit. Just a *tiny* bit too much negative space for me. The child is a cutie, and eating watermelon is always good for an "aww" factor.
Background
Background is pretty good, but has a few hotspots. Moving him out from the wall a bit might have helped some.
Camera Work/Technical
Focus is great, the eyes really stand out. You've used a good aperature for this type of photo, giving you just the right amount of DOF. I see no real problems here.
Digital Processing
While you offer no details on your processing, let me touch on a couple of points:
1. The wall. A little work with a background layer and some burning might have helped with the hot-spots. I'd have also tried to maybe hue-shift it a little to get either a more vibrant color, or get it whiter across the board.
2. His shirt. The red is a little *too* red. It's to the point of being clipped (sort of like being blown out, losing shade detail), and might have worked better either muted, or with a deeper shade.
Other than that, I have no suggestions
Fits the Challenge
Definitely fits the challenge, it's a nice capture of a good "aww" moment, and fits "studio" rather nicely
My Opinion of the Photo
As I mentioned, I think the crop could have been tighter, but I like the overall feel. I'm a sucker for child shots anyway, and this is a nice moment to cherish.
Photographer found comment helpful.
